Ukraine’s campaign to isolate Crimea is accelerating. Following major drone strikes across the Kerch Strait, fuel depots, logistics hubs, ferries, and air defense systems were reportedly hit, placing growing pressure on Russian supply lines. As key routes become increasingly vulnerable, questions are mounting about Russia’s ability to sustain operations in occupied Crimea and southern Ukraine. In this video, we examine the latest strikes, their strategic impact, and why Crimea may be becoming Russia’s biggest liability.
00:00 - Crimea Is Completely Isolated
02:02 - Piercing Russia's Supply Hubs
04:03 - The Fatal Ferry Strike
06:15 - Blasting Putin's Air Defenses
07:33 - The 3 Strategic Scenarios
14:00 - Why Russia Can't Stop the Drones
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SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/ddSdZ7zQ
00:00 - Crimea Is Completely Isolated
02:02 - Piercing Russia's Supply Hubs
04:03 - The Fatal Ferry Strike
06:15 - Blasting Putin's Air Defenses
07:33 - The 3 Strategic Scenarios
14:00 - Why Russia Can't Stop the Drones
Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join
#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow
SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/ddSdZ7zQ
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NewsTranscript
00:00It just doesn't stop. The hell that Ukraine has been putting the Crimean occupiers through
00:04isn't easing up. It's only getting stronger. How? Ukraine just cut another key land bridge
00:11to Crimea, attacking from both sides. Crimea isn't a peninsula anymore, it's an island.
00:18Isolated, bereft of support, Ukraine's liberation plan is so perfect that it's causing a lethal
00:24trap to close around the Russian occupiers. Putin is losing control. And the best part is that Russia
00:30saw all of this coming, but it still couldn't do a thing to stop it. We take you to the
00:35Kerch Strait.
00:36Long used as a logistical route for Russia, this strait was once one of Russia's greatest strengths.
00:42But now Ukraine has mid-range strike drones, which means that the Kerch Strait has transformed from
00:48an asset into a major liability. That's precisely what we saw overnight on June 21st. Ukraine struck,
00:56over and over again. By the end of the drone bombardment, fires were being reported in occupied
01:01Kerch as well as Russia's Port Kavkaz, which is in the Krasnodar region, and inside Crimea itself.
01:08Another artery is being sliced open. And it's Russia's fuel and supplies that are spilling out
01:14like a torrent of blood. Ukraine isn't being shy about any of this. In the wake of the strikes,
01:19President Volodymyr Zelensky took the telegram to rub the Russian failure right in Putin's face.
01:24Sharing footage of the aftermath of one of Ukraine's strikes, Zelensky declared,
01:28Last night, our long-range sanctions targeted the occupiers' military logistics,
01:33oil industry, and air defense. All of this is just a response to Russia's brutal attacks against
01:38our people. I thank the warriors of the Security Service of Ukraine, the unmanned systems forces,
01:43the defense intelligence of Ukraine, and the special operations forces for their successful
01:47work at a distance of about 300 kilometers from the front line. Ukraine is so confident in proclaiming
01:54what it's doing for a reason. It knows it has Russia trapped in Crimea, and Putin can do nothing
01:59about it. We saw that on June 21st, as the sheer number of strikes that Ukraine pulled off shows us
02:04that whatever solutions Russia thinks it has for dealing with Ukraine's logistical lockdown of Crimea
02:09aren't good enough. A combination of eyewitness reports, satellite fire detection, and Ukraine's
02:15own reporting gives us the full story. Facilities on both sides of the Kerch Strait were hit,
02:21including maritime oil logistics infrastructure in Krasnodar and an oil depot in Kerch.
02:26The former facility is used to move fuel into Crimea and the occupied territories. It is located on the
02:32Khrushka Spit and serves as one of Russia's most vital logistical hubs in the Black Sea and Sea of
02:37Azov regions. In other words, Port Kavkars in Krasnodar is vital for keeping the occupiers in Crimea
02:43and southern Ukraine supplied. As for the latter, a burning oil depot always means less fuel for Putin's
02:49forces. In this case, it's possible that Ukraine struck the IGAS terminal liquefied gas complex at the
02:55depot, along with potentially taking out fuel. The Crimean Wind Telegram channel reveals that NASA's
03:01firm's satellite monitoring system has detected what it dubs thermal anomalies in the Kerch Strait
03:06region, which started at around 1 a.m. local time. Thermal anomalies translates to
03:12massive and terrifying fires from which there is no escape. United24 Media adds that eyewitnesses
03:17on the ground reported explosions, drones, and the failing attempts of Russian air defenses to stop
03:22these strikes in several regions, including Kerch, Bakhti Sarai, Sevastopol, and Simferopol.
03:29Footage has already started spreading around on social media.
03:32Beyond what the Crimean Wind channel has shared, videos offered up by Serhis Donenko
03:36on X show the Kerch seaport ablaze following Ukraine's massive drone strike.
03:41We see massive fires, smoke billowing into the air, and videos of huge blazes that Ukraine has caused.
03:47All of this is starting to become a common sight in Putin's invasion. A country that was never supposed
03:53to be able to hit Russia at range is unleashing drones almost daily to shatter Russia's energy
03:58infrastructure and cripple the logistics that feed Crimea.
04:02A double-ended strike is bad enough for Russia, but Ukraine was far from done.
04:07An interesting telegram post was published by Russia's Krasnodar task force following Ukraine's
04:12attack. On the night of June 21, a person was killed at the Kerch ferry crossing as a result of
04:18an
04:18attack by enemy forces. The Panagia ferry was attacked at the Kerch ferry crossing in the
04:22Temryuk district. According to preliminary reports, one person was killed and another was injured.
04:28Russia is clearly trying to create a narrative in which Ukraine has attacked a civilian ferry,
04:32as it makes no mention of any military purpose for this strike. But Russia is lying. Again.
04:37The Panagia is no cruise ferry. As United 24 media reveals, this ferry has become increasingly
04:43vital for Russian logistics. Ever since repeated Ukrainian attacks against the Kerch bridge that
04:48links Russia to Crimea, forced Putin's forces to stop using that land room. The outlet reports that
04:54open-source analysts have documented that this particular ferry had been used to transfer air
04:58defense missile components and military equipment between mainland Russia and Crimea.
05:03Prasnodar's task force wants you to believe that Ukraine heartlessly killed somebody riding a ferry.
05:08What they don't tell you is that this ferry was a military asset and Ukraine just hit it hard.
05:13In the wake of the ferry attack, Russia responded with pure panic.
05:17All ferry operations between Port Kavkaz and Kerch have been suspended,
05:21with Russian authorities instructing the military to use overland routes that run through Rostov-on-Don,
05:26Melitopol, Mariupol and Simferopol. That seems like a good idea. It's not like Ukraine has been
05:31raining drone hellfire on the R-280 highway that connects all of these regions for weeks now.
05:36Oh wait, that's exactly what Ukraine is doing. Putin's patsies have been told that they have to leap
05:41out of the frying pan and into the fire on an overland route that Ukraine's drones are dominating.
05:46That's desperation in its purest form and it shows us just how badly Russia is doing at keeping its
05:52Crimean occupiers supplied. Putin's solution to a key waterway being cut off is to send his soldiers
05:58down a highway of death where Ukraine's drones could strike at any time, and Russia won't be able
06:03to do much to protect its cargo and supplies on the R-280. Already vulnerable, that road,
06:09along with all of Crimea and the logistical routes that feed into it, has become an even bigger target.
06:14Ukraine took out something else very important during its June 21st raid,
06:18yet more of the air defenses that are supposed to be protecting all of this.
06:22The Secret Service of Ukraine, or SBU, revealed all in a telegram post stating,
06:27in addition, the SBU and the SOU disabled four radar stations from the S-400 anti-aircraft missile
06:33system and two Pantsir anti-aircraft missile and gun systems located directly on the Crimean Bridge.
06:40Those air defense units were positioned near the crossing that Ukraine targeted moments later,
06:45so we see here a very intelligent and layered approach to strikes. Take out the air defenses first,
06:50then hit the targets, but there's more to it than that. With the loss of three more air defense
06:55systems that were supposed to be protecting Crimea and its logistics, Russia now has to deal with
07:00the exacerbation of a massive problem that is making all of this possible in the first place.
07:05Russia is running out of air defenses. And that means Crimea is being transformed
07:09from a peninsula into an isolated island that can't defend itself. That's Ukraine's goal,
07:14and it's all part of the perfect plan from which Russia can't escape. But before we dig deeper into
07:19all of that, this is a reminder that you are watching The Military Show. If you haven't subscribed yet,
07:24now is the perfect time to hit the button before we get back into the report.
07:29Let's make something crystal clear. Russia's forces in occupied Ukraine depend on Crimea.
07:34For most of Putin's invasion, Russia has taken advantage of Crimea's status as a peninsula
07:39to keep its troops supplied elsewhere in Ukraine. But now that status is changing,
07:44and Ukraine's defense minister Mikhailo Fedorov reveals how. He says that Ukraine is turning Crimea
07:49into an island which is going to lead to very unexpected consequences for the Russians.
07:55Fedorov didn't say any more. Maybe he didn't want to ruin the surprise. But we can speculate and
08:01there are three very clear scenarios that Ukraine could create if it's able to build on everything
08:06that it's doing to completely isolate Crimea. For one, Crimea keeps Russia's troops in the occupied
08:11portions of Zaporizhia supply. Those troops are supposed to be pushing into the region's capital city,
08:17and Putin has demanded that Russia capture that city by the end of the summer.
08:21Progress is already slow. Despite ramping up assaults, RBC Ukraine reports that Russia has
08:26failed to make any notable advances in the Zaporizhia region. Putin's patsies have a little
08:31over two months to achieve the goal that their insane leader has set for them. It was already
08:35looking unlikely. If those forces are cut off from Crimea, an unlikely attack becomes impossible.
08:41Zaporizhia city will hold, and Russia will end up facing another year where it hasn't been able to take
08:46advantage of the summer months. Then there's Kherson. You may already know that this particular
08:51oblast has been in the news during the last couple of weeks. Earlier in June, Ukraine launched a drone
08:56strike against the Chonar Bridge that connects Kherson to Crimea, and it followed that up by
09:00attacking the alternative crossings that Russia tried to use to maintain its logistical throughput.
09:05That alone signals a pretty obvious second consequence of Ukraine turning Crimea into an island.
09:11Russia will really start to struggle to hold onto the occupied regions of Kherson.
09:15Ukraine already forced Putin's forces to abandon the oblast's capital city in 2022,
09:20which was made possible by a constant stream of strikes that targeted Russian logistics on
09:25the west bank of the Dnipro River, making holding the city untenable.
09:29What we're seeing now in Kherson is the same strategy playing out on a much grander scale.
09:34Russia controlled about three-quarters of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions by the summer of 2025,
09:39Al Jazeera reports. Ukraine's isolation of Crimea will make it much more difficult for Russia to
09:45maintain a hold on the portions of the oblast over which its grip is tenuous at best. Putin will be
09:51forced into a decision. Divert more troops from other occupied regions to maintain the ground in
09:56Kherson or give it up to Ukraine. Neither is a good choice for Putin. And that brings us nicely to
10:02the
10:02third unexpected consequence of Ukraine turning Crimea into an island. If Ukraine is able to
10:07completely isolate Crimea, and that job hasn't been done yet, then Putin has to make another
10:12massive decision. Does he continue pouring troops into the Donbas region that has been at the heart
10:17of peace discussions for over a year? Putin desperately wants Ukraine to seed that region,
10:22and he has set his soldiers the practically impossible target of snatching it away from Ukraine
10:26by September, so we know how much he wants it. Or does Putin divert more forces and equipment to
10:32Crimea to shore up its defenses and counteract the isolation, thus weakening the Donbas offensive
10:37and further exposing the Russian rear in that region to more aerial strikes?
10:42Again, neither is a good choice. Either way, Putin loses whatever grip he thinks he has on a region
10:48that he claims should be under Russia's control, and Ukraine is forcing him closer to making his
10:53decision. In addition to all its strikes against Russian logistics, Ukraine's drones also struck
10:58Crimea directly on June 21st. Sergei Axionov, who is Putin's puppet governor on the peninsula,
11:05announced that all fuel sales at gas stations would be suspended on the same day as a major fuel
11:11depot on the peninsula went up in flames. There's only so long this kind of thing can go on before
11:15Putin has to make a choice. And that, more than anything else, is what makes Ukraine's Crimea
11:20plan so perfect. What we're seeing here in all of this is Ukraine following through on a plan that is
11:25simple at its core, but is being executed so brilliantly that it leaves Russia with no real escape.
11:31Former US Army Europe Commander Ben Hodges explains the plan succinctly.
11:36Describing Crimea as the key point of this war, Hodges told UK are informed
11:40what Ukraine is doing during a May 27th interview. Now to me this is going to be a
11:45little bit simplistic, but there is kind of the first phase or the first step to the liberation
11:49of Crimea is to isolate it, to cut that road that goes to Zhankoy to destroy the bridge,
11:54Hodges says before adding. And then number two, and this goes to the point of your good question,
11:59is to make it untenable, unusable for the Russians. I mean, Ukraine now has the capacity to hit every
12:04square meter of Crimea. You have precision strikes that can reach anywhere, and there is no mystery about
12:09where the Russians are, where the airfields are, where the navy is, whatever they still have,
12:14logistics, it's all there. So you just keep pounding it so that the Russians realize they
12:18cannot stay there. There is no use in Crimea for the Russians there. That, in a nutshell, is what
12:23Ukraine is doing. The isolation of Crimea serves plenty of purposes in terms of making places like
12:29Kherson and Zaporizhia far more dangerous for Russia. Supply lines being cut from Crimea to those
12:34regions will inevitably lead to more deaths among Putin's poorly equipped soldiers, and it will also
12:39create opportunities for Ukraine to launch counter-offensives across a weakened Russian front.
12:44But the goal, always, is to reclaim Crimea. And rather than sending troops into the peninsula,
12:49Ukraine is working toward doing that by making holding Crimea unviable for Putin. As Hodges says,
12:55Ukraine knows where every major military target on the island is. The constant campaign against
13:00Crimea's air defenses makes those targets hittable, and now that Ukraine is shredding Russian logistics
13:05feeding into and out of the peninsula, Russia is in serious trouble. One by one, the tethers are being
13:11cut. The June 21st attack represents one more route that Ukraine has just turned into a death zone.
13:17Soon, Crimea is going to be cut off, adrift like an island. The peninsula will essentially be blockaded,
13:23which impacts Russia's entire Ukraine campaign. Now, Ukraine's task is not just to sustain
13:29the pressure being placed on Crimea, but to expand on. The attacking tempo has to increase,
13:34and according to Euromiden Press, that's what we're already seeing. It says that Ukraine's K2 unit
13:40gives a perfect example when it comes to its campaign of destroying Russian supply trucks
13:45on the logistical routes that serve Crimea. In April, that unit carried out 258 strikes.
13:50May saw the number rise to 344. By mid-June, that unit had struck 215 vehicles, suggesting that it will
13:57have cracked 400 by the end of the month. But here's where an already horrific situation for
14:02Russia gets serious. Russia knew all of this was coming, and it hasn't been able to do anything
14:06to stop it. There was no big secret when it came to Ukraine's plans for Crimea. The country spent much
14:11of 2025 using drones to attack Crimean air defenses and military targets on the peninsula. That same year,
14:17also saw emergence of Ukraine's mid-range strike drone capability, which was widely reported.
14:22Fedorov highlights that production increase, stating that Ukraine's defense ministry has already
14:27contracted 300% more mid-range strike drones during the first four months of 2026 than it did in all
14:33of 2025. So if it saw everything coming, why hasn't Russia been able to stop Ukraine? The answer is
14:39simple. Russia doesn't have the air defenses. After well over four years of war and a Ukrainian
14:44campaign that has cost Russia 1,437 air defense systems and counting, according to Ukraine's Ministry of
14:51Finance, Russia has been left with patchy air defenses at best. When you combine that with
14:55the fact that most Russian systems were designed to deal with classic threats such as cruise missiles,
15:00you get a recipe for disaster. Mid- and long-range drones entering the equation is a nightmare for
15:05most of these systems. They are not designed to deal with these types of targets, and the fact that many
15:10drones are made using composite materials such as plastic and plywood makes the situation worse. Systems
15:16that are designed to track targets using heat signatures can't do much against drones that aren't
15:20showing up on their radars. The Crimean shield is falling apart. And worse yet, Russia can't buy the
15:26air defenses needed to reinforce it. In a June 20th report, Euromiden Press spoke to a drone commander
15:32who goes by the callsign Charger. Working with Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment, Charger
15:38says that Russia's big problem right now is that it can't get its hands on the microchips it needs to
15:42build
15:43more air defenses. Because it's a scarce resource, it's very expensive, and even if they just throw
15:48a sack of dollars at the manufacturer, air defense won't just materialize because there's no microchip,
15:53Charger said, adding, there is no device where you feed it money and it gives you a microchip that
15:58controls an anti-aircraft missile. Bear in mind that Russia also needs microchips for the missiles it's
16:03using to attack Ukraine. Feeding one deprives the other, and it's Crimea that's paying the price.
16:09Russia has other techniques for dealing with drones. Electronic warfare systems can jam signals
16:14to send drones off course, or they could. With the drones that Ukraine is using to cut Crimea off,
16:19not even jamming is doing the job. Ukraine's mid-range strike drones don't just make the Russian
16:24rear reachable. Many, such as the Hornet, which has been a standout in the 2026 campaign against Crimea,
16:30also use artificial intelligence to reach their targets. That takes jammable signals out of the
16:36equation, leaving Russia to rely on increasingly worn-out air defense systems that Ukraine has
16:41proven can be overcome and struck. All of this means that Russia doesn't have the tools to defend
16:46itself against Ukraine's Crimean strategy. And Putin and his cronies see everything coming.
16:52Ukraine hasn't made what it's trying to do some big secret that is catching Russia off guard.
16:56The defense, in theory, is simple. Shut down Ukraine's mid-range strike drones.
17:01That's what will save occupied Crimea for Russia. But Russia can't do it. Putin's forces are like
17:06rats caught in a trap. The bar is down and the rat knows exactly what problem it needs to solve.
17:11But there's no escape. The crippled rat can only wait to die. That's Russia in Crimea right now.
17:16Watching, waiting, and hoping for a miracle to save its illegal annexation.
17:21But that miracle isn't coming. All that's going to arrive in Crimea and the surrounding regions are
17:26yet more mid-range strike drones. The trap has been triggered. The life is being squeezed out of
17:32Russia. And sooner or later, the lights are going to go out. Putin's Crimea will be over.
17:38You could argue that it already is. A peninsula that is supposed to be a symbol of Russia's dominance
17:42over Ukraine is now more vulnerable than at any point during Russia's occupation. Crimea has become
17:48a liability for Russia. And there's so much more that we can explain when it comes to the how and
17:53the
17:53why. If you want to find out more, check out our breakdown of the situation in Crimea and why it's
17:58so terrible for Putin. And if you enjoyed this video, make sure you subscribe to the channel and
18:02check back every day for more videos from The Military Show. And thank you, as always, for watching.
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